Madisonville Elementary reaches out

Wendy Thompson (left), Angela McBee (center) and Principal Rhodena Brooks pose with some of their students in front of the donations made to Madisonville Elementary so far.

Posted
Tuesday, September 26, 2017 10:13 am

By Campbell Atkins
Sports writer

The community continues to show resilience and compassion in the aftermath of natural destruction.

Madisonville Elementary School has partnered with Henson Motors and Madisonville Christian Fellowship to help the students of K-2 Juan Seguin and Patterson Elementary in the wake of flood damage.

Juan Seguin is a part of Fort Bend ISD. Patterson Elementary is sharing their campus with those students.

“We encourage all of our campuses to assist whenever there is a public school in need,” said Madisonville CISD Superintendent Keith Smith. “This isn’t only for the benefit of those schools but for our students as well.”

The project has been led by Madisonville Elementary School Principal Dr. Rhodena Townsell Brooks. At first, the plan was just to gather school supplies for the kids. However, the need was greater than that. That’s why Henson Motors is collecting clothes and other goods for the community as a whole. Many of the churches in Madisonville are also collecting money.

“Something happens inside of you when you see people in need,” said Dr. Brooks. “It really struck a chord with me personally because small children were affected, and I teach small children. I can only imagine what it was like for them to wake up without school supplies, so it’s important that we do everything we can to help out.”

Madisonville Elementary has called for the community’s help in donating a collection of supplies and clothes to benefit these students in need. They have already begun collecting donations at the school as well as the church and will continue to do so until Oct. 5. The official delivery is set to take place on Oct. 6.

The plan started when Liz Henson of Henson Motors and Angela McBee of Madisonville Elementary presented Dr. Brooks with an idea of adopting a school in the flooded area immediately following Harvey. Henson has a daughter working at a school in the area and she helped make the connection with Juan Seguin happen.

McBee will be coordinating with the school to pair classrooms on the Patterson campus with those in Madisonville. Along with the donations, the students will provide letters and artwork. Her hope is to build relationships between the teachers and students on both campuses.

“The act of benevolence is taught to our kids every day,” said Superintendent Smith. “Our hope is that our students will become a more giving member of our society once they leave us.”